East/Atlantic Super Regional will be held May 7-9 at Hershey Country Club-East Course

NCAA SELECTION ANNOUNCEMENT

Senior co-captain B.J. Powers

RINDGE, N.H. (April 27, 2012) -- Friday was a historical day for the Franklin Pierce University golf team as the Ravens were selected to compete in the 2012 NCAA Division II Tournament, marking the program's first-ever bid to the national competition. The national tournament will begin with the East/Atlantic Super Regional on May 7-9 at the Hershey Country Club-East Course in Hershey, Pa. Millersville University will serve as the host school for the regional.

The Ravens earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament after they finished ninth in the final NCAA East Region Poll, which was released earlier in the day on Friday. The other nine teams who will represent the East Region in next week's regional, include No. 1 Wilmington (automatic qualifier as the CACC champions), No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas, No. 3 Post, No. 4 Dowling, No. 5 Bentley (automatic qualifier as the Northeast-10 champions), No. 6 UMass-Lowell, No. 7 American International, No. 8 Goldey-Beacom and No. 10 Adelphi.

Franklin Pierce began its surge to a spot in the NCAA Tournament back in early October when the Ravens turned in an outstanding second-place finish in the Northeast-10 Conference Championship at Cyprian Keyes Golf Course in Boylston, Mass. The Ravens shot a 39-over-par, 615, as the second-place finish was the program's highest placing at the conference championship.

Ten days later, Franklin Pierce won its 2011 Fall Invitational, besting several NE-10 foes, including Saint Anselm, Southern New Hampshire and Saint Michael's. The Ravens fired a 24-over, 312, to claim their first victory of the season.

The Ravens capped their strong fall season later in the month with a solid 11th-place showing out of 34 teams at the NEIGA Championship in Cape Cod. Franklin Pierce, again, finished ahead of numerous NE-10 teams and three Division I programs, including Dartmouth (Ivy League), Fairfield (MAAC) and Providence (Big East).

After a four-month break between the fall and spring seasons, Franklin Pierce headed south in late March and got in some practice rounds in Myrtle Beach, S.C. While in the south, the Ravens opened their spring season with an eighth-place showing out of 14 teams at the St. Thomas Aquinas Invitational in Maryland.

Senior co-captain Brian Fleckles

Franklin Pierce significantly helped its cause for an NCAA berth in early April when the Ravens nabbed a fourth-place finish out of 11 teams at the River Hawk Invitational. The Ravens finished ahead of several NE-10 teams, which were in a battle for the final few remaining spots in the East region.

Franklin Pierce's starting five has remained intact throughout the entire season. The five Ravens who will represent the school in the NCAA's include senior co-captains B.J. Powers (Southbury, Conn.) and Brian Fleckles (Sandwich, Mass.), junior Ian Landry (Loudon, N.H.), sophomore Adam Spencer (Jericho, Vt.) and freshman C.J. Konkowski (West Chesterfield, N.H.). Each one of the five have turned in strong performances throughout the fall and spring seasons.

Powers and Landry each earned First-Team All-Northeast-10 honors after they finished fifth and eighth, respectively, at the conference championship. They became just the second and third golfers in program history to earn first-team all-league honors.

Konkowski has had a decorated spring season as he recently won the individual title at the FPU Spring Invitational #2 at The Shattuck in Jaffrey, N.H. He fired a two-over-par, 74, to claim the first individual title of his collegiate career. Earlier in the spring, Konkowski fired a seven-over-par, 151, to finish in a tie for first place following 36 holes of regulation play at the FPU Spring Invitational #1 at Bretwood Country Club in Keene, N.H. He lost on the first hole of the sudden-death playoff, but was rewarded by being named that week's NE-10 Rookie of the Week. Konkowski has finished in the top-10 in three tournaments this spring.

Fleckles has arguably been the most consistent golfer for the Ravens this season as he has picked up several high finishes, including a ninth-place showing at the FPU Fall Invitational, a 13th-place showing at the NE-10 Championship and a 22nd-place finish out of nearly 170 golfers at the NEIGA Championship.

Spencer is coming off a third-place finish at the FPU Spring Invitational #2 earlier this week, and also collected a ninth-place effort at the FPU Fall Invitational.

It marks the 64th NCAA Tournament bid in school history and the golf team is the seventh different athletic program to reach the national competition, joining men's and women's soccer, men's and women's basketball, baseball and men's tennis.

The golf team will play a practice round at the course on Sunday, May 6, and will begin the regional with the first round on Monday.

The top-five teams and the top-two student-athletes not with a team from each regional (regardless of region) will advance to the finals May 15-19, at The Cardinal Club in Simpsonville, Ky., as part of the 2012 Division II Spring Championships Festival. The Festival will be hosted by Bellarmine and the Louisville Sports Commission.

For more information on Franklin Pierce golf, please visit the team's page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens).